A Sunday Afternoon ~ Dun Laoghaire to Dalkey and back!

A recent Sunday late morning we ventured out towards Dun Laoghaire… walked the pier, ate nice things, wandered along the coast, enjoyed a glass or 2 of wine, had lunch in The Mermaid in Dalkey, back to Dun Laoghaire for Teddys! A pretty lovely day…

Dun Laoghaire Pier

We started off with a walk on the pier. I think there was to be a swimming competition but the sea looked rough in the harbour area. Lots of people had gathered as you can see from the picture, and we stopped a while to see if anything was happening but nothing did… I guess whatever it was meant to be was called off!

Swimming Competition that never was…

As we were starting our walk down the pier, we came upon the Ouzo’s Fish Shack… and all in the name of research (ahem!) we got a portion of chips to keep the hunger at bay. Next time I visit the Ouzo’s Fish Shack will definitely be trying more than just chips!

The new library in Dun Laoghaire is nearly open, its an impressive building, certainly standing out amongst its surroundings…

Dun Laoghaire Library

We headed along the coastal path, in the lovely sunshine (it didn’t last all day!) – first stop, The Peoples Park for the Market… we picked up some antipasto – pesto, sundried tomatoes, bresaola, olives, foccacia bread – for later that evening. This market is definitely one of the best ones, lots of stalls, covering all different things, food, flowers, crafts, coffee. There’s a lovely vibe there as you wander around it and I could easily while away a couple of hours at this market.

We wandered along through the Glasthule and stopped off in Mitchell & Son wine shop in Sandycove – even though its a wine shop, there are a few little tables for 2 outside and they serve coffees and wines. We enjoyed an espresso and a glass of wine each. There are wines at €4 per glass, very reasonable for lovely wine and an easy setting watching the world go by. For some reason 64 Wine nearby doesn’t open on a Sunday and it seems its missing a trick by not opening, as Mitchell & Son had fairly steady trade the afternoon we were there.

On we walked to Dalkey, through the village, stopping and looking at places trying to decide what we wanted to eat! The Tramyard Cafe is a cute little spot, located obviously enough, in the old tramyard right in the centre of the village.

The Tramyard Cafe, DalkeyMural on the wall at The Tramyard, Dalkey

Nosh used to be one of our most favourite places in Dalkey but it closed a couple of years ago; finally something has opened in its place – The Mermaid. We took a seat outside, the clouds started to gather but we persisted. We ordered a bottle of wine, a Cuvee Alice, Chat Ollie Corbieres…wings arrived for starter between us. We had just started to tuck in to the wings when the rain started, light at first, we thought this is fine, there’s a little canopy above us, well be grand sure… or not… it really rained then and us, the wine and the wings were all getting very wet so we relocated indoors and looked out at the rain instead!

Rain, rain, rain…

He ordered the ham and cheese sandwich (sounds basic but wow…) and I chose the tiger prawns; we shared a side of handcut chips. His sandwich, just wow – possibly the best sandwich ever tasted, loaded with layers of baked ham and melty cheese. Our bill with the wine and 3 diet cokes (thirsty after all the walking) came to €66.70. Wings, prawns, chips and wine were all really good too but not quite at the level of this sandwich!

The Mermaid, Dalkey

We left Dalkey, drizzling down and headed back along the coast, towards Sandycove, Glasthule… walked the metals then down to the sea at Dun Laoghaire. We had to get a Teddys ice cream – the rain was falling again, the sky a deep shade of purpley grey but eerily pretty all the same.

It’s a real shame that despite all of the development in and around Dun Laoghaire nothing has been done with the baths…a wonderful site, an eyesore as it is now, lets hope they bring it back to life soon…

Abandoned Baths at Dun Laoghaire

It’s really such a lovely day out, so much to see and do (and eat & drink!) along this coast…in these last days of Summer months get out and enjoy it!